title: Dyspepsia: how should we measure it?
abstract: This study developed and validated a multidimensional measure of dyspepsia. A questionnaire was administered to 126 patients with dyspepsia who presented for care at a VA outpatient clinic and a family physician's private office. Dyspepsia-specific health was measured by self-report using: (1) an existing dyspepsia scale that produces an aggregate score by summing ratings across pain and non-pain symptoms; (2) adaptations of two scales originally designed to measure back pain; and (3) a new scale measuring satisfaction with dyspepsia-related health. Generic health was measured using the SF-36. Results from factor analysis revealed four dimensions of dyspepsia-related health: pain intensity, pain disability, non-pain symptoms, and satisfaction with dyspepsia-related health. After refinements, scales representing the four dimensions conformed to psychometric standards for reliability, and convergent and discriminant validity. The importance of measuring dyspepsia using a multidimensional approach was confirmed by demonstrating that classification of dyspepsia severity depended on the dimension that was assessed. We conclude that dyspepsia is best measured using a multidimensional approach.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterans Affairs Health Services Research and Development (HSR&D) Field Program, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Houston, Texas 77030, USA.
authors.forename: D H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Kuykendall
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rabeneck
authors.forename: C J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Campbell
authors.forename: N P
authors.initials: NP
authors.lastname: Wray
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004415:Dyspepsia / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017060:Patient Satisfaction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013781:Texas / Q000453:epidemiology